Pakistan records 'wettest April' in more than 60 years: Weather agency - Times of India

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Vehicle wait to cross a flooded area on a highway following heavy rains, near Chaman, Pakistan, Thursday, April 18 2024. (AP)

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan

experienced its "wettest

April

since 1961", receiving more than twice as much rain as usual for the month, the country's

weather agency

said in a report.

April rainfall was recorded at 59.3 millimetres, "excessively above" the normal average of 22.5 millimetres, Pakistan's metrology department said late Friday in its monthly climate report.

There were at least 144 deaths in thunderstorms and house collapses due to heavy rains in what the report said was the "wettest April since 1961".

Pakistan is increasingly vulnerable to unpredictable weather, as well as often destructive

monsoon rains

that usually arrive in July.

In the summer of 2022, a third of Pakistan was submerged by unprecedented monsoon rains that displaced millions of people and cost the country $30 billion in damage and economic losses, according to a World Bank estimate.

"

Climate change

is a major factor that is influencing the erratic weather patterns in our region,"

Zaheer Ahmad Babar

, spokesperson for the Pakistan Meteorological Department, said while commenting on the report.

While much of Asia is sweltering dure to heat waves, Pakistan's national monthly temperature for April was 23.67 degrees Celsius (74 degrees Fahrenheit) 0.87 degrees lower than the average of 24.54, the report noted.